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Who Are You?

As I write this, it is January 25, 2020. Where has this new year gone?

Did you make New Year’s resolutions?

A New Year’s resolution is a promise a person makes for the new year. Regardless of what resolution you commit to, the goal is to improve your life in the coming year.

Resolutions come in many forms. Some make a promise to change a bad habit, such as eating less junk food. Others make a promise to develop a positive habit, such as an exercise program, volunteering in their community, or recycling more.

The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back to 153 years before Christ.

Here is how we got the concept of New Year’s Resolutions. January is named after Janus, a mythical god of early Rome. Janus had two faces – one looking forward, one looking backward.

This allowed him to look back on the past and forward to the future. On December 31, Romans imagined Janus looking backward into the old year, and forward into the new year. This became a symbolic time for Romans to makes resolutions for the new year and to forgive enemies for troubles in the past.

The Romans believed Janus could forgive them for their wrongdoings in the previous year. They would give gifts and make promises, believing Janus would see this and bless them in the year ahead.

And this is the beginning of the New Year’s resolution.

Have you ever set goals? How do you set goals? How do you achieve goals? Actually, this is much the same as setting resolutions for the New Year. We set goals like, “I’m going to read my Bible more. I’m going to pray more.” But most of us, on average only achieve about 8 percent of our goals. There are many reasons people don’t stick to their goals, from setting too many, to getting derailed by small and large failures.

Perhaps, a better goal or resolution is to ask yourself, “Who are you? And Why are you here?”

If you can accurately identify yourself, then you might be able to make changes to that self-image. Look at a portrait or picture of yourself. Look into a mirror. Ask, “What changes do I want to make?”

So, first, who are you? John 1:12, tells us, …those who embraced Him, that is Jesus, and took hold of His name were given authority to become children of God. To “(take) hold of His name” means to believe all that He represents and put into practice what He taught in the power of His name. Or to put faith in His name.

The first answer to “Who are you?” is, you are a child of God.

John 15:1, Jesus says, I am the true vine and in John 15:4-5, Jesus says, I am the vine and you are my branches. I am and you are a branch of the true vine which is Jesus. I am and you are a conduit of Christ’s life. His life should fill you and me up and overflow to the world around us.

We should bear fruit and the Father will prune us in order that we might be more fruitful.

Again, in John 15:12-15, Jesus says, you show that you are my friends when you obey all that I command you. I will no longer call you servants because a master does not confide in his servants, and servants don’t always understand what the master is doing. But, I call you my most intimate friends, for I reveal to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. You don’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit.

So far in answer to, “Who are you?” we discover that you are a child of God. You are a branch of the True Vine, who is Jesus, a conduit of Christ’s life. And you are a friend of Jesus, chosen by Him and His desire is to confide in us and reveal what He hears from the Father.

Next time we will explore a bit further this question of “Who are you?” We will answer this question more fully before moving on to “Why are you here.”